"What Can Novels Do?" A Conversation with Ursula K. Le Guin

When: Tue., Feb. 26, 7 p.m. 2013

Among a certain swath of Seventies- and Eighties-born sci-fi
and fantasy nerds of the kind that used to read during recess and may or may
not have owned T-shirts with airbrushed dragons on them (hey, no judgment!),
the name Ursula K. Le Guin establishes the sort of
wide-eyed, bone-deep nostalgic reverence that J.K. Rowling never could. And for
good reason -- the hugely prolific, Berkeley-born 83-year-old novelist and
children's book author has now introduced two full generations of readers to a
type of fantasy and futurism that's not only compelling as hell, but
emotionally resonant and politically conscious: She's influenced writers
including Salman Rushdie and Neil Gaiman and won just
about every fantasy- and futurism-writing prize possible, but she's been
equally lauded for her exploration of complex social issues and her commitment
to using characters of varying colors, genders, and sexual orientations -- a
commitment that's alarmingly rare in these genres, and incredibly important in
children's literature. On Tuesday, Feb. 26, Le Guin
will speak about her life and work in conversation with Michael Lucey of the UC Berkeley comparative literature and French
departments in a public lecture at the Sibley Auditorium in the Bechtel
Engineering Center (UC Berkeley campus). The talk is titled "What Can Novels
Do?" but in LeGuin's hands, maybe the better question
would be, "What can't they do?" Bring
your dragon shirt. 7 p.m., free, but tickets are
required and will be available starting at 6 p.m. on a first-come, first-served
basis. TownsendCenter.Berkeley.edu